


Breathe In Breathe Out

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2020 [14]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Episode: s03e20 The Fallen, Grief/Mourning, Prompt Fill, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27012931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 13 "Breathe In Breathe Out"
Series: Whumptober 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956160
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Breathe In Breathe Out

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back at it again with the Queen sibling feels

For a while, Oliver had thought that the worst pain he had ever felt had come with Tommy’s death. Then it was the loss of his mother that had been the most painful thing he had ever experienced. But seeing his baby sister lying broken and dying in a hospital bed, an oxygen mask over her face the only thing keeping her breathing, knowing he could do nothing to save her, was worse than both of those combined.

Ever since Thea was born, all Oliver had ever wanted to do was protect her. He had lied, killed, maimed, and nearly died at the hands of Ra’s Al Ghul in the name of that goal, and now she was lying there dying. Because of him. Because he had failed.

Feeling numb and hollow, Oliver barely noticed when he ended up sitting in a chair in the hallway outside Thea’s hospital room. When Malcolm arrived, he hardly noticed his presence, nor could he make himself care when he wept to learn of his daughter’s fate. Thea was dying just as much because of Malcolm’s actions as Oliver’s failure to do his job as her big brother, and as such, Oliver was unmoved by his tears. He knew that as much as he deluded himself into believing the opposite, Malcolm had never truly loved or cared about Thea. He had only pretended to when he thought he could get something out of it. 

More time passed without Oliver being consciously aware of it, and then suddenly, Dig and Felicity were there. He barely registered Felicity sitting down beside him or her comforting touches as she tried desperately to console him. He heard the conversation he had with them explaining what Ra’s Al Ghul had done to his baby sister, but distantly, as if it were happening to someone else. Then, through the window, he saw something that snapped him back to himself in an instant- a plume of purple smoke, rising into the air in the distance.

“What is it?” Felicity asked, she and Dig both following after Oliver as he rose from his chair and went to the window.

“Smoke,” he answered, his voice a whisper and a growl, full of both sorrow and rage at the same time.

“The League?” Dig asked. “Well, screw ‘em. At least until we get our bearings, Oliver. Come up with a plan.”

“He’s won,” Oliver replied. “There is no plan.”


End file.
